NDE disburses over N8m to 235 unemployed graduates in Anambra

The National Directorate of Employment (NDE) in Anambra State has empowered 235 unemployed persons from the dual programmes of Micro Enterprise Enhancement Scheme (MEES) and Start Your Own Business (SYOB) programmes yesterday.

The Anambra State Coordinator of NDE, Mrs. Chika Ufelle, disclosed this during the disbursement ceremony in Awka, explaining that NDE created this loan scheme to further empower artisans and market women with soft loans in order to enhance their operational capacity under MEES.

Giving details on the beneficiaries, Ufelle said that 228 persons selected under the MEES group were empowered with a loan package of N4,560,000 at N20,000 each, while 7 persons under SYOB were equally given a total sum of N3,500,000 at the rate of N500,000 per person.

She further stated that the disbursement of start-up capital to the unemployed graduates of tertiary institutions, trained under the SYOB, was to resettle them with the loan package as capital to establish or enhance their businesses and thereby increase their wealth.

According to her, the exercise was in line with NDE’s mandate, which, among other things, include design and implement programmes to combat mass unemployment, and empowerment in the country through her various well-designed programmes and schemes.

“When the micro enterprise thrives, the economy at the centre would be healthy, with the prices of goods and services reducing, inflation decreasing and, ultimately, the negative effects of unemployment such as engagement in social vices would disappear,” she said.